Traeger Roasted Lamb Sliders

While the original was a mini “grease-burger” by Whitecastle in the 1940s, they’ve come a long way! Watch one way to twist a slider into something unexpected on your Traeger grilling recipe book.

What You’ll Need for Roasting the Lamb

• 1 Lamb leg roast (I de-boned mine, but you don’t have to. Smaller pieces cook faster. You can use shoulder if you prefer or have it more readily available)
• 1 medium size roasting pan with a rack

• Vegetable stock/broth (your choice)
• Traeger Maple or Signature Blend pellets

Lamb Rub Ingredients

• 1 Tsp Chili powder
• 1-1/2 Tsp Kosher or pink salt
• 1 Tbsp Fennel seed
• 1 Tbsp Ground mustard seed
• 1-1/2 Tsp Garlic powder
• 3 Tbsp Olive oil

Pesto Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Oregon Orchard natural whole hazelnuts
• 3/4 cup extra virgin Olive oil
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Tsp Pink salt
• 1/2 Tsp Fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup packed Fresh mint leaves
• 2 cups packed Fresh or dried Basil leaves
• Juice from lemons (2 fresh-squeezed)
• 1/3 cup Asiago cheese (grated)
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

1. Grind hazelnuts in a food processor to small chunks but not flour.
2. Add hazelnuts, mint leaves, basil leaves, and lemon juice to food processor. Mix evenly.
3. Pulse dry ingredients and gradually add in Asiago, then Parmesan cheese.
4. Gradually add in olive oil until the mixture is a spreadable paste. Voila!

Slider Ingredients (other than Lamb)

• Mini pretzel buns (or your favorite)
• Sriracha aioli (I mixed mine using real mayonnaise, lemon juice, Sriracha spice mix, pink salt, pepper)
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Avocado slices

1. Place de-boned lamb in a large mixing bowl and add in all rub ingredients. Mix well to coat all surfaces of the lamb.

Note: preparing lamb leg is a little more labor-intensive than a beef roast. I take mine off the bone to expose the larger fat veins and remove them as well as excess surface fat. This is well worth the effort as lamb fat can be fairly bold and take away from the flavor of the rub and spices you’re adding to the meat.

1. Preheat Traeger grill to 375°
2. Place lamb leg pieces on grill grates and cook for approximately 15 minutes per side or until the rub crusts up a little and you notice grill marks.
3. Once the lamb is braised, place it in a roasting pan with a rack raising it an inch or so from the bottom surface of the pan (gives room for broth and veggies).
4. Pour in enough broth or stock (use vegetable, beef or chicken as preferred) to cover the bottom of the pan about an inch deep and add vegetables of your choice. I used sweet potatoes, shallots, and a few garlic cloves.
5. Cover the roasting pan with foil and place on grill grate. Cook for about 3 hours. (You’ll probably want to remove veggies after an hour depending upon which ones you chose).
6. Make sure your broth doesn’t evaporate too much but allow it to evaporate enough that the lamb drippings combine with it without dilution (you want the flavor to pour back on the meat once it’s done cooking).
7. Lightly coat mini pretzel buns (both sides) with butter and grill them for a few minutes melt the butter and get grill marks.
8. Pull lamb apart so it’s shredded
9. Build your slider with lamb, pesto, aioli, feta cheese and avocado. Eat!

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